( about the least surprising political defection I've see take place , they can have her )

November 17, 2016 4:05 pm Updated: November 17, 2016 4:57 pm

WATCH LIVE: Former PC MLA Sandra Jansen joins Alberta NDP

By Emily Mertz and Erika Tucker Global News

Formerly a member of the Progressive Conservatives, Calgary-North West MLA Sandra Jansen joined the New Democrats Thursday.

Premier Rachel Notley made the announcement at the legislature with Jansen by her side.

“I’m very pleased to announce today that Sandra Jansen has decided to join our team,” the premier said. “Sandra has always been a voice for practical, moderate, progressive policy. She’s now going to be a compelling voice for that approach within our caucus and our government.”

Jansen said the current tone of some elements of the PCs has been “extreme” and “heartbreaking.”

“We are not going to move forward by moving back.”

Jansen announced her withdrawal from the 2016 Progressive Conservative leadership race in an email to her supporters sent Nov. 8, citing harassment and an alleged “hostile takeover” on the part of the PC party. She declined multiple interview requests with Global News.

In the email to her supporters, Jansen wrote her experience at the PC Party convention in Red Deer had left her “shaken.”

“Insults were scrawled on my nomination forms,” she wrote. “Volunteers from another campaign chased me up and down the hall, attacking me for protecting women’s reproductive rights, and my team was jeered for supporting children’s rights to a safe school environment.”

Party president Katherine O’Neill has said she’s deeply concerned and brought in a neutral third-party investigator to review the incident-something Notley supported, calling Jansen’s allegations “deeply troubling.”

“If a party or a campaign cannot conduct itself in a way to ensure the most basic of rules around inclusivity, for instance anti-harassment, then quite frankly that party or that campaign is not equipped to govern a province,” Notley said Nov. 9.

READ MORE: Tuesday ‘not a great day for women in politics’: Notley

Jansen alleged a PC candidate was using “bullying tactics” and left her supporters with this advice in the email to her subscribers:

“Work for a candidate who opposes the Trump-style politics imported to Alberta from Ottawa.”

The Calgary MLA has previously spoken out against former federal cabinet minister and MP Jason Kenney’s plan to “unite the right” in Alberta when he announced his leadership bid. He is running on a promise to call for a membership vote to collapse the party, then seek to merge it with the right-centre Wildrose Party, creating a new big tent conservative coalition he said is critical to defeating Notley in the 2019 election.

She also named him in a tweet suggesting his supporters were responsible for inappropriate language on her campaign materials.

In a statement, Kenney said he “regrets” to hear of Jansen’s allegations of “disrespectful” treatment at the PC convention and on social media.

“My campaign has exhibited a positive and respectful tone since it began. Neither I nor any member of our campaign team has engaged in personal attacks against other candidates,” it said.

“If anyone supporting my campaign has made personally disparaging remarks about other candidates, I would ask them to apologize and to participate in a positive and respectful manner.”

Calgary MLA Sandra Jansen joined Premier Rachel Notley at a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 17 to announce that she was joining the NDP Party.

In what is the first official floor crossing to the NDP, Calgary MLA Sandra Jansen has left the “dogwhistle politics” of the Alberta PC party and will join Rachel Notley’s governing New Democrats.

In a hastily called news conference in Edmonton, Jansen and Notley talked about how their “pragmatic” views of policy and governance were a good fit — for Jansen, certainly a better fit than Alberta’s PC party with which she has had some recent troubles.

“Extremists are taking over” the PC party, Jansen told reporters, and that has left the party out of touch with how most Albertans think.

The “dogwhistle politics” Jansen heard at the PC convention were “chilling to me,” she said.

In her remarks at the press conference, Jansen said that she needs to leave the petty, mean politics behind her and move Alberta forward as a legislator.

“I need to be true to the values of my constituents and to my own values,” she said. “I’m coming to this caucus from a tent that just wasn’t big enough. It wasn’t big enough to fit me.”

The NDP, she said, is “a moderate, reasonable, pragmatic government,” which Jansen called a better fit for her politics.

Notley agreed, stating that Jansen and the NDP share ideas. “We don’t divide, we don’t harass, we don’t pull each other down,” the premier said.

“I said last week that Tuesday was a bad day for women. Today is a much better day,” Notley added.

Jansen says the olive branch from the NDP was extended in an organic way, partly due to what she called her good relationships with current ministers.

Jansen considers herself to be centrist, and said the NDP tent is big enough for her and for centrist policies

“I feel good. I want to be part of a group of people who aspire to go forward” and she hasn’t felt that in a long time.

Jansen, along with Calgarian Donna Kennedy-Glans, was one of two female leadership contenders for the PC party until they both dropped out Nov. 6. Jansen cited harassment and the hostile takeover by former Conservative MP Jason Kenney and his socially conservative supporters, and Kennedy-Glans pointing to the party’s shift from centrist values.

Progressive Conservative MLA Sandra Jansen (left) announced alongside Premier Rachel Notley that she left the PC party and joined the Alberta New Democratic Party during a news conference at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

It was a shock few saw coming.

But after Thursday’s floor-crossing announcement, former PC leadership candidate Sandra Jansen is now flying the orange flag in Calgary-North West.

During a joint news conference with Premier Rachel Notley, Jansen said the discussion with her constituents and their possible concerns hadn’t yet taken place, but she plans to do just that in the very near future.

Postmedia spoke to nearly a dozen people in the area of her constituency office on Thursday evening, with opinions ranging from rage to happiness.

Rob Moen said it’s just politics playing itself out in public as usual.

“Premier Notley must be pretty happy. But, I’ve never understood going from a party you allegedly believe in to just cross the floor. I think she should have become an independent and gone through a byelection to see if the voters still want her in,” he said.

Sheri MacDonald, who was shopping with her teenage daughter just a couple of doors down from Jansen’s office was none too pleased about the news.

“It doesn’t matter what party she is in, I didn’t vote for her. But, I respect the majority vote,” she said. “I’m completely unimpressed by her, and I don’t think she cares for the constituents, and this just proves it.”

Some constituents think of the floor-crossing as just another chapter in the chaotic book of the legislature of the last five years.

One woman who didn’t want to be identified, who has lived in the riding for a number of years, made light of the situation.

“Usually you’ve got to join the Liberal Party as a step in between, don’t you,” she said.

“I don’t know what to think of it, honestly. Is it personal? Is it for more media spotlight? I don’t know what her agenda is, because truthfully, going from the PC to the NDP is mind blowing,” she added.

( extreme takeover ? really , I think she has found a better home in the ndp , maybe they'll give her a fancy position or something , I don't understand why alberta provincial politics attracts such ridiculous people , federally it seems like such a sane place but not provincially )

'We’d be better off with Sandra,' says PC interim leader after Jansen defects to join Notley's NDP government

Progressive Conservative MLA Sandra Jansen (left) announced alongside Premier Rachel Notley that she left the PC party and joined the Alberta New Democratic Party during a news conference at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia Kucerak, Ian / Postmedia
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Warning of an “extremist” takeover of the Progressive Conservative party, Calgary MLA Sandra Jansen has defected to Alberta’s NDP government less than 10 days after pulling out of the Tory leadership race.

Premier Rachel Notley introduced the Calgary-North West MLA as a member of the NDP caucus at a jovial legislature news conference Thursday afternoon.

Jansen, a self-described social progressive who entered the Tory leadership contest as an outspoken critic of front-runner Jason Kenney, told reporters her experiences in the contest showed she was a better fit with the NDP than the Tories.

She had abruptly dropped out of the race on Nov. 8, claiming harassment by supporters of Kenney both online and at the recent PC convention in Red Deer over her pro-choice stance on abortion and support for LGBTQ rights.

“I don’t believe that there has been anything moderate or pragmatic being offered or even discussed by the people intent on taking over the Progressive Conservative party,” she said Thursday.

“I was shocked by the bullying and the extreme views and intolerance that has characterized the PC leadership race.”

Progressive Conservative MLA Sandra Jansen (left) announced alongside Premier Rachel Notley that she left the PC party and joined the Alberta New Democratic Party during a news conference at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

Progressive Conservative MLA Sandra Jansen (left) announced alongside Premier Rachel Notley that she left the PC party and joined the Alberta New Democratic Party during a news conference at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia Kucerak, Ian / Postmedia
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Kenney, the former Conservative MP running for the PC leadership on a platform of uniting the party with the more right-leaning Wildrose, did not make himself available for an interview but issued a statement.

He said he respected Jansen personally but she had been elected as a member of a “free enterprise party” and is now a member of “a socialist party … inflicting great economic damage on her Calgary constituents.”

“I believe that she owes it to her … constituents to decide in a byelection whether they support the views of this NDP government,” said Kenney.

The defection raises the NDP’s seat count in the 87-seat legislature to 55, while the Tories are reduced to eight members. The Wildrose has 22 seats and the Alberta Party and Liberals have one apiece. It also means the NDP has 16 seats in Calgary.

Jansen — who had mused about leaving the Tory party after ending her leadership run — noted that when she made the allegations about harassment in the PC race, she received more words of support from NDP MLAs than from members of her own caucus.

The other woman running for the Tory leadership, Donna Kennedy-Glans, dropped out the same day as Jansen. While Kennedy-Glans said she was worried about the rightward turn of the party, she tweeted Thursday she would never join the NDP.

Progressive Conservative candidates Jason Kenney, a former Conservative MP, and Sandra Jansen sit next to each other during the Alberta Progressive Conservative party leadership forum in Red Deer, Alta. on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. The only two female candidates in the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race are calling it quits, one of them citing Trump-style intimidation tactics in the campaign.

Progressive Conservative candidates Jason Kenney, a former Conservative MP, and Sandra Jansen sit next to each other during the Alberta Progressive Conservative party leadership forum in Red Deer, Alta. on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. The only two female candidates in the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race are calling it quits, one of them citing Trump-style intimidation tactics in the campaign. Dean Bennett / THE CANADIAN PRESS
​
Notley, who welcomed Jansen as a longtime “voice for practical, moderate progressive policies,” referenced the PC leadership contest in her remarks.

“I said last week that Tuesday was a bad day for women. Today is a much better day,” she said.

Notley said there had been no discussions with Jansen about potential cabinet positions but “she will have a great opportunity to earn her place and her role.”

Jansen’s move across the floor is the first since the mass defection of Wildrose MLAs to the then-PC government in 2014. The ensuing backlash helped lead to the defeat of the four-decade-old Tory dynasty in the May 2015 election.

While Notley said at the time of the Wildrose floor-crossing that it “will really offend the basic values of many Albertans,” she doesn’t believe this move will get the same reaction.

“We’re not in a position where she’s moving from one extreme policy position to a different one,” said Notley.

Jansen, known for her advocacy around LGBTQ and other social issues, was first elected as an MLA in 2012 and served as associate minister of family and community safety under Alison Redford.

She has drawn fire in the past for her ties to Redford and her public support of two federal Liberal candidates in last year’s federal election.

PC Party interim leader Ric McIver (left) and PC President Katherine O'Neill respond to the crossing of the floor by former PC MLA Sandra Jansen to the NDP government during a news conference at the Federal Building at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

PC Party interim leader Ric McIver (left) and PC President Katherine O’Neill respond to the crossing of the floor by former PC MLA Sandra Jansen to the NDP government during a news conference at the Federal Building at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia Kucerak, Ian / Postmedia
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Despite Jansen’s departure from the PC caucus, party president Katherine O’Neill said the party will continue its investigation into allegations of harassment and intimidation at the Red Deer convention, and the results will be made public.

Just a few hours before Jansen’s bombshell announcement, interim PC leader Ric McIver had been hopeful she would return to the party fold.

After hearing the news on Twitter, he told reporters it was a “disappointment” but that the party would “roll with the punches.”

“We’d be better off with Sandra in our team, but she’s chosen a different path,” he said.

While McIver wished Jansen well, he dismissed the notion that the Tories had lost the centre and are unwelcoming to women.

O’Neill wasn’t surprised Jansen chose to cross the floor.

“I know she has been unhappy over the last few months,” O’Neill said.

“She has made that decision for herself … but the party’s a team, it always has been.”

The MLA for Calgary North-West announced on Thursday afternoon that she will be joining the NDP government as a member of caucus and says the PC approach to politics is out of touch with the desires of Albertans.

Sandra Jansen was the communication manager for Premier Alison Redford from October 2011 to March 2012 and was elected to her second term as PC MLA in May 2015.

On Thursday, NDP Premier Rachel Notley and Jansen held a joint news conference in Edmonton to make the move official.

“I am very pleased to announce today that Sandra Jansen has decided to join our team,” said Notley.

“Most Albertans are reasonable, moderate, pragmatic people. And most Albertans want a reasonable, moderate, pragmatic government. I believe we are getting that kind of government from Premier Notley,” said Jansen. “The best traditions of the Peter Lougheed legacy in Alberta politics are being pursued by Premier Notley. And that legacy is being kicked to the curb by the extremists who are taking over my former party.”

Notley says Jansen will have to ‘earn her place and her role in the government’ and that she is a ‘voice for practical and moderate, progressive policy.”

“I want to be part of a government that has an open door to the energy industry and to people working with the environment because those things go hand-in-hand,” said Jansen. “I’m going forward and I’m going forward with Premier Notley and the NDP.”

“She will be a very valuable member of our caucus, I know that already, our caucus is very excited about it, our cabinet is very excited about it. We look forward to having Sandra in Calgary to expand our relationships and open the door to even more,” said Notley.

Jansen says when she announced she was stepping out of the PC leadership race she was contacted immediately by NDP members.

“I think it’s telling in the first few hours. I had probably twelve messages of outreach from the NDP caucus before I heard a single one from my own caucus, I think that really says a lot,” she said. “I want to be part of a group of people who aspire to something better and I think that I haven’t felt that in a long time and I want that going forward.”

Jansen says she expects some backlash for her decision and that she has had a “pretty steady diet of it’ over the last few months so she is prepared.

“I would image there are going to be people who are very upset. I also imagine that there are going to be a lot of people who say, you know what, we like the idea that you’re actually going to be a legislator first and a party politician down the road and that means going to work and getting some things done.”

She says her decision was based on where she thinks she can work the most effectively and not on her electability.

“At the end of the day, the important thing for me is less about the fighting that is consuming the party right now and more about getting some actual work done for my constituents and that’s what I want to do.”

The PC Party released a statement regarding Jansen's new role.

"While I'm disappointed that Calgary-North West MLA Sandra Jansen has chosen to cross the floor to the NDP caucus, I respect her decision and wish her well in her new role. Sandra has been a valued member of our caucus and we know that the government will benefit from her sharp intellect and passion for serving Albertans," said Interim Leader Ric McIver.

"We wish Sandra Jansen well in her new role," said Party President Katherine O'Neill, "As a party, we have always supported her. We have taken her allegations of harassment and bullying very seriously, launching a third-party investigation and we will act on that report, regardless of this new development. Our party is working hard to rebuild to represent all Albertans, and we are disappointed Ms. Jansen has chosen not to support this effort.”

Jansen will join the NDP government caucus when the Legislature resumes its sitting on Monday.

The news of Calgary-Northwest MLA Sandra Jansen’s decision to leave the PC Party and join the ruling NDP is just settling with her constituents and many say they are not happy with the idea.

The decision to cross the floor surprised just about everyone in the party as Jansen went from seeking the leadership of the PCs to sitting in opposition of them.

Jansen says the decision came from a fateful Tory convention in Red Deer earlier this month.

Sandra Jansen MLA
Sandra Jansen, the MLA for Calgary-Northwest, announced her decision to join the Alberta NDP on November 17, 2016.

During the meeting, Jansen said she felt bullied and harassed by the members of her own party. The incident left such a deep impression on her that she didn’t feel welcome anymore.

When she went public with the allegations and announced her decision to leave the race, the NDP were the first to reach out to her and began the process of helping her join the fold.

“I think it’s telling in the first few hours. I had probably twelve messages of outreach from the NDP caucus before I heard a single one from my own caucus, I think that really says a lot,” she said. “I want to be part of a group of people who aspire to something better and I think that I haven’t felt that in a long time and I want that going forward,” she said during a news conference on Thursday.

Jansen announced her decision to join the NDP on Thursday afternoon and says that party is much more likely to pursue the policies she agrees with.

“The best traditions, as the Premier mentioned, of the Peter Lougheed legacy; traditions for a very long time that I have believed in, are being pursued by Premier Notley. They are being pushed out by a party that I used to call my home. To see that legacy being kicked to the curb by extremists who are taking over the PC Party has been heartbreaking to me. The tone that has been brought into Alberta politics belongs in our past and so many people I know believe the same thing.”

Notley says Jansen will need to earn her place and her role in the government, but believes she will be an important part of the caucus.

“She will be a very valuable member of our caucus, I know that already, our caucus is very excited about it, our cabinet is very excited about it. We look forward to having Sandra in Calgary to expand our relationships and open the door to even more,” Notley said.

So far, Jansen has been criticized for her decision to quit the PCs.

"I'm not very happy about it," said one woman. "I voted for her because she was with the other party. I'm certainly not voting NDP, I will tell you that much."

Many voters in her riding say she should have consulted with them before making such a big decision.

Others say that maybe Jansen's departure is a sign of bigger issues facing the party.

"I think it shows there are some problems, more problems than they think on the Conservative side and I think she finally said, 'well, I've had enough' and she went to a party that's going to appreciate her."

I don't see Calgary being a strong area for the ndp in the next election even with the addition of Sandra Jansen , the unemployment rate is too high at 10% and historically most of the ridings vote pc or wildrose , with the exception of a couple liberal ridings downtown . the ndp has little history in the city in recent years other than 2015 , I just can't see them holding what they have there yet alone gaining any new pc ridings .

another possibility for Sandra Jansen might even be a federal run at some point in Calgary , not for the ndp but maybe liberals as she campaigned for them last election and they've shown a willingness to accept pc defectors without much though

( this mla seriously can't take any criticism , now she is alleging to have got hateful comments online after she defected to the ndp . but this isn't anything new , all previous defections have been the target of widespread anger and such from voters , there is a reason why voters have become very cynical of politicians who suddenly change sides and parties . )

Impassioned Sandra Jansen calls on legislature to stand against misogyny

MLA who crossed floor to join NDP last week cites a litany of hateful comments levelled at her

MLA Sandra Jansen made an impassioned plea to her colleagues in the Alberta legislature on Tuesday, asking them to stand up against hate speech levelled at women in politics.

Warning: This story contains foul language some readers will find offensive.

Calgary MLA Sandra Jansen drew a standing ovation Tuesday after she rose in the legislature and gave an impassioned speech denouncing the hateful and misogynistic comments she has faced since crossing the floor to join the NDP last week.

The first words out of the former Tory MLA's mouth likely raised eyebrows when she said: "What a traitorous bitch!"

.

Warning graphic language: Hateful messages aimed at MLA2:01

The Calgary-North West MLA, first elected in 2012, has faced abuse and threats since she crossed the floor to join the government last week, and has since been assigned a temporary protection unit to accompany her, a spokesman for the premier's office told CBC News.

In her statement, Jansen went on to read a litany of demeaning and despicable comments she has faced on Twitter and Facebook.
■"You are both a disgrace to Alberta."
■"Lying bitches."
■"Now you have two blond bimbos in a party that is clueless."
■"Another useless tit goes NDP."
■"Dead meat."
■"Sandra should stay in the kitchen, where she belongs."
■"Fly with the crows and get shot."
■"Dumb broad. A good place for her to be is with the rest of the queers."

Her point made and the house apparently shocked into silence, Jansen then made a plea to her colleagues in all parties to stand up against hate speech levelled at women in politics.

'If we don't feed it, we must oppose it'

"If you are stunned by the words you have heard in the last few days," Jansen said to MLAs in the legislature, "if you reject the inherent violence behind them, and you know that harassment and abuse, even if it's verbal, even if it's online, and even if it's directed at a political opponent, is poison. Let us be strong and clear in our resolve that no matter where we sit along political lines, we stand together against this.

Girls and young women see the challenges faced by women in politics, Jansen said, and they often hear the abuse levelled at them.

"Imagine if we let that poison become normalized?" Jansen asked. "Or if our daughters forego the political arena altogether. That scares me."

Her member's statement concluded, Jansen then sat down while the rest of the MLAs got to their feet and applauded for more than 20 seconds.

Jansen crossed the floor to join the NDP last week, nine days after she dropped out of the PC leadership race.

She quit the race after alleging she was harassed and intimidated by volunteers from another candidate's campaign during a weekend PC meeting in Red Deer. Donna Kennedy-Glans dropped out of the leadership race on the same day, leaving four men as the only contenders to lead the party that was swept from power by the NDP in May 2015.

Calgary MLA Sandra Jansen is now being protected by security after receiving death threats following her move across the floor from the Progressive Conservatives to the NDP government last week.

The government confirmed Wednesday that its Executive Protection Unit is providing security for Jansen on a temporary basis.

In an interview, Jansen said there have been death threats and threats of violence made towards her on social media since she joined the NDP government last week.

“There was a concern from the NDP, our government, that they wanted to make sure that I was protected in the event that someone decided to make good on the threats,” said the Calgary-North West MLA.

“I feel very safe. I have a wonderful group of people here who are making sure that I’m being taken care of and supported so I feel confident that they are very good at the job that they do and when we determine that the threat is gone, then things will go back to normal.”

The incidents are also being investigated by the police, said Jansen.

Jansen transfixed the legislature Tuesday when she delivered a member’s statement outlining the obscene and derogatory language that has been aimed at her on social media.

She received a standing ovation from the chamber as she called for an end to women politicians being targeted for abuse.

The MLA said Wednesday she had been overwhelmed by the response following her speech, which included messages of support “literally from around the world.”

Jansen had been a candidate for the leadership of the PCs but dropped out citing harassment and intimidation from supporters of former MP Jason Kenney, both online and at the recent Tory convention.

When she was welcomed into the NDP caucus by Premier Rachel Notley last week, Jansen said the PC party was in danger of being taken over by extremists.

Kenney has condemned the comments aimed at Jansen and said Wednesday that it was “terribly distressing” that the MLA requires security.

But he said he’s seen no evidence to suggest supporters of his leadership campaign are responsible for the social media attacks on Jansen.

“I would denounce anybody making disrespectful comments and obviously I hope the police would pursue anybody who is making violent threats,” said Kenney, who added that in his time a federal minister he had received death threats that required police protection.

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said the situation with Jansen is “unacceptable” and he hoped Wildrose supporters are taking no part in the online abuse.

“It’s just totally inappropriate. It has no place in our society today,” he said.

The Executive Protection branch provides security for Premier Rachel Notley. The government would not say whether protection has been extended to any other NDP cabinet ministers or MLAs in the past.

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